The invention relates generally to sign generating apparatus and processes and deals more particularly with an efficient sign generating apparatus which is capable of cutting a sign while interacting with an operator to define the layout of another sign or perform other operations.
A previous sign generating apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,525 to Logan and Sullivan which patent issued on Aug. 28, 1984, is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference as part of the present disclosure. The '525 sign generating apparatus comprises a web feeder, a tool to selectively plot sign characters on plotting paper or cut sign characters from sign generating stock while the web is fed, and a system microprocessor programmed to direct the cutting and plotting operations according to data input by an operator. The data may include a font type, a line height and a line of sign text. The font provides vectors defining the character shapes, a standard width of each character and a standard space between the characters. After the data entry, the system microprocessor determines sign vectors based on the font vectors and other data input by the operator and transmits the sign vectors to a machine controller which also includes a microprocessor. The machine controller converts the sign vectors to servo commands and transmits them to X and Y drive motors which are responsible for relative motion between the cutting or plotting tool and the web material to trace the desired sign. Often the operator directs the microprocessor to plot the sign on plotting paper to check the appearance of the sign text before the relatively expensive sign generating stock is utilized. If the operator is dissatisfied with the sign appearance, then he or she can enter new data into the system microprocessor defining another shape or size of sign text. The data entry, sign layout, and testing processes may be repeated additional times if desired.
After the operator arrives at a satisfactory sign text appearance, the operator may direct the system to cut one or more sets of the characters from the sign generating stock. If many sets of characters are desired, then the cutting process may require a significant amount of time and during such cutting time, the operator may be idle because the '525 system is not equipped to interact with the operator to define the shape and size of text of another sign during the cutting process.
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide efficient sign generating apparatus and processes for cutting a first sign while interracting with an operator to define the layout of a second sign.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide sign generating apparatus and and processes of the foregoing type which are also capable of calculating the layout of the sccond sign or displaying the second sign layout on a video monitor during the cutting of the first sign so that the operator does not have to wait while the first sign is being cut before proceeding with the second sign data entry and layout.
Another specific object of the present invention is to provide sign generating apparatus and processes of the foregoing types which do not have a large computer requirement.
Still another specific object of the present invention is to provide sign generating apparatus and processes of the foregoing types which require only one bank of fonts to support both the laying out, displaying and cutting operations.